It's almost Father's Day, and since I won't be blogging this weekend, I wanted to take this opportunity to wish a wonderful day to all of you dads who take an active, loving, nurturing and guiding part in your children's lives. May God richly bless you and may your tribe increase!
Last year I wrote a small tribute to my husband, who is a terrific dad. How I treasure him as a husband and father--he is a wonderful gift from God.
Before my own father passed away in July 2004, I wrote this tribute to him. He was a loving dad too, and I miss him so very much.
However...not to take anything away from fatherhood, but I'm feeling a strong surge of motherlove right now.
Maybe it's because it's the time of year when youngsters are graduating from high school and college. Major turning points in their lives, and in the lives of their mothers. My own daughter--who happens to be my youngest-- graduated from high school a few weeks ago, and although she doesn't have any immediate plans to leave home, I can't help but be struck with the signficance of this milestone. The days of the empty nest are looming.
I've noticed in recent weeks that other blogging moms are experiencing similar emotions.
Katy has rendered me emotional, blogging about her son--the baby of the family--finally leaving the nest, here and here.
I especially love her parting words to her son: "Kev, you'll get married one day and then you'll have your first child. You'll turn around 25 years later and the last one will be walking out the door, and it will feel so strange to you. Because you'll still remember exactly how you felt the first time you brought a new baby home from the hospital, when all of life was ahead of you. Life goes really fast, babe..."
Truer words were never spoken, Katy.
Beth struggles with sending her daughter to a secular college. Like all of us moms, she ultimately has to leave the matter in God's hands.
WallyMom expresses beautifully and emotionally what many moms are feeling during the summer before their children go off to college.
She writes: "Suddenly, I want desperately to go backwards - to those days when he woke me up too early and followed me into the bathroom too often and asked too many questions and bothered me all day long. At least I was a participant in his life. Now I'm not sure who I am to him. He won't need me like before and so I have to redefine my role. I'll always be his mom, but have I now gone from all-knowing provider to the recipient of obligitory phone calls?"
Wow...been there, felt that.
Several weeks ago, when my daughter graduated from high school, my son and his wife came up from Texas, and my younger son was home from college. It was one of those rare occasions when all my children were under one roof, and I savored it. I love my children so strongly and so deeply, it's sometimes painful. How wonderful to know that there's Someone who loves them even more than I do. Even more wonderful, that someone is loving and sovereign and has a unique plan for their lives!
Happy Father's Day, everyone. Have a blessed weekend.
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